Search form

decreases

Submitted by knit_knot_eat on Tue, 2008-11-04 14:07

Does it matter how you decrease? I am working on a hat where I need to decrease (knit 2 tog). when I did my last one, I struggled a lot on this. I just could not seem to get my needle through both stitches. No matter how loose I tried to make the row that I was going to have to do this to, it just was always too tight.
I was just on knittinghelp.com and saw several other different methods of decreasing. One seemed really easy. It was to slip the first stitch, knit the next one and then pull that first one back off over the second one (like in binding off). This is something that I know I can do.
Can I use this method? Will it make a difference in my final results?

What you will notice for the different decreases is what direction the stitch slants visually. Slip Slip Knit (which I think is similar to what you are describing) slants one direction when knitted, and K2TOG slants the other direction. That would be the only difference you would see in the finished product.

If you want to maintain your same right slant as a k2tog, you can do the following:

Use the tip of your right needle to left the SECOND stitch on the left needle up and over the first stitch, letting it slip right off . Then knit the first stitch as normal. This produces the same decrease in a different manner.

Let me see if I can follow this. If I knit 2 tog, it will slant one way. If I knit with the method I mentioned (slip, knit and then pull over) it will slant the other way. But if I want to slant the same way are the knit 2 tog, I can do what you are suggesting.
But I'm not sure I understand this. Are you saying go into the second stitch on the left needle, and pull it over the first one and let it fall off (just like binding off but now on the left needle). Then just knit the first stitch as normal? It sounds easy enough, but if my stitches are too tight to knit 2 tog, won't I have just as much trouble trying to get into the second stitch to pull it over the first and slip it off?

Oddly enough, even though your tension doesn't acutally change, stitches appear to be looser when worked singly then when trying to work two together. YOu are also coming at the stitch in the opposite direction to lift it off as you would to knit it, so that should help as well.